RAIDEN IV

[JBC]

It's a great game. I was so worried I would never get a chance to play it properly until I discovered the Type X hacks floating around the internet a couple weeks ago. It's a beautiful thing, the Raiden series.

[burgerkingdiamond]

It's a great game. I was so worried I would never get a chance to play it properly until I discovered the Type X hacks floating around the internet a couple weeks ago. It's a beautiful thing, the Raiden series.

yessir. Raiden is a thing of beauty. It'll kick your ass and have you ready to punch out your CRT, but I love it.

(God damn sniper tanks!)

[stryc9]

IV is an excellent game, that stage 3 boss is something else though.

It also happens to qualify as the most difficult 360 shmup to fit evenly on a 4:3 tate display, even outdoing the recent Under Defeat port.

Love the fast bullets in this. At least CAVE shooters let you blink once in a while

[BPzeBanshee]

crap.

Sounds like the sequel to your 'excellent' Ketsui review.

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

Considering Raiden IV was originally 5 stages, the 3rd boss difficulty spike isn't really coming out of nowhere. One thing I can't deny Raiden did better than it's predecessors is that it doesn't dick around until the last few stages or so.

[finisherr]

Looks like Raiden Fighters Aces comes with 3 games, all of which seem kinda old school. Pretty enticing. But, for some reason I really don't like the huge ship selection in these games. I just feel that it'll take me forever to settle on one that I really like.

[Estebang]

Each of the RF games has objectively best ship selections, though. None of the other ships can hold a candle to the Slave and Fairy, with the exceptions of the Judge Spear and RFJ's Ixion. They're so good that the games' survival difficulty is made far more manageable than it was designed to be. The standard ships are fun to experiment with, but you'll always be at a disadvantage.

[NzzpNzzp]

Looks like Raiden Fighters Aces comes with 3 games, all of which seem kinda old school. Pretty enticing. But, for some reason I really don't like the huge ship selection in these games. I just feel that it'll take me forever to settle on one that I really like.

It's not that bad. Half the planes are just awful and you wouldn't ever want to use them, and half the remainder will probably be either too fast or too slow for you, depending on your preference. You'll end up with a manageable list.

[Estebang]

Here:

RF1: Slave
RF2: Fairy
RFJ: Fairy/Ixion

Judge Spear is too imprecise for scoring.

[NzzpNzzp]

Judge spear sure doesn't seem underrepresented in the high score threads.
The speed is only a problem when you want to graze everything, anyway, and you don't need to do that unless you're going for the best score possible. It's great for grabbing medals/getting in the right spot for bonuses.

[BPzeBanshee]

It's not underpowered - its imprecise. You do really need precision which the Judge Spear is not always good at considering its napalm missiles.

For the record, Alluro's got insane scores with the Raiden MK-II which (at the time) seemed quite uncanny ie. chaining the DX bonuses in RFJ's Sim Stage 5. It's certainly possible to play with the other ships - I notice you get extra kudos for beating/scoring high in the game with a lesser ship on these boards compared to using the Fairy for example.

[finisherr]

I'm getting Raiden III for PS2 and Raiden IV for 360 in the mail this week, all thanks to xris. So pumped!

[finisherr]

So far, I'm into it. Tried a few credits on both. My jam in Raiden IV is the blue laser power ups with the homing missiles (to take out those tricky side snipers). Everything is super fast and aimed to kill. Pretty intense in a completely different way. Got to 1-3 pretty much right off the bat, and as usual, looks like the third stage will be a hump for this one.

Gotta play Raiden III a bit more to see which game I will stick with first.

[BPzeBanshee]

Yeah I've heard a few complaints about Stage 3 in this being a bitch. The stage itself is adjustable like the previous ones but the boss is quite mean. Certainly possible though.

[xbl0x180]

I'm getting Raiden III for PS2 and Raiden IV for 360 in the mail this week, all thanks to xris. So pumped!

Excellent choices. Raiden IV has some incredible boss explosions that made me sink back into my recliner chair - literally blow away. The second level's background design was good and the music for the level where you're being launched into space is catchy as hell

[burgerkingdiamond]

I'm getting Raiden III for PS2 and Raiden IV for 360 in the mail this week, all thanks to xris. So pumped!

Excellent choices. Raiden IV has some incredible boss explosions that made me sink back into my recliner chair - literally blow away. The second level's background design was good and the music for the level where you're being launched into space is catchy as hell

yeah that ost that comes with the game is pretty sweet. there's some good tunes.

[Remembrance]

Picked this up at a local store due to a Gamestop sale this week, with the soundtrack CD. Looks like a great game all around!

[burgerkingdiamond]

For all of the Raiden fans I recommend picking up the Japanese version of Raiden Project (Raiden I and II) for Ps1 (The North American version does not let you Tate).

I've been playing it on my candy and it surpasses the PCBs as far as I'm concerned just because of the autofire (not adjustable). The reason I barely play by Raiden boards is because I really hate it when games make you tap fire for the whole fucking game (that goes for Gunbird and Strikers..). I really need an autofire circuit come to think of it..

[toaplan_shmupfan]

Well, I have the US version of The Raiden Project for the PSOne and I really didn't mind the lack of Tate. The game gives two sizes of vertical letterboxing and there is even a screen fill panorama mode.

What stands out more on the sound side of things is that the music isn't quite the same quality as the arcade (especially compare the Stage 2 and Stage 3 music of Raiden II PC CD redbook audio [by Cyberfront/Interplay] vs Raiden II on The Raiden Project PSOne). Also, some of the midboss explosions are way overpowering vs the arcade machines so they are even louder than the boss explosions. But that isn't a serious gameplay issue, I'm just being technical about the sound differences since I also have Raiden II for the PC.

What can be a serious gameplay issue is in Raiden II--it is possible to change Player's Bombs from Fire to Cluster at any time within the pause menu. As long as someone plays "honestly", their scores will be valid; otherwise, their entire bomb stock will change based on whether they select Fire or Cluster. Think of how this can be used in different sections of the game vs. honestly collecting each fire bomb or cluster bomb during normal gameplay.

I'm also aware that The Raiden Project may be easier than the arcade machines, but I've never really got past Stage 5 in Raiden and Stage 4 in Raiden II, on a single credit, using the near-arcade difficulty settings on The Raiden Project.

[finisherr]

So, I think I'm gonna stick with Raiden IV for now. No miss no bombed 1-1 and 1-2. 1-3 is still kinda kicking my ass. I can get through it if a bomb a bunch, but that's bullshit. Ha.

[Casper<3]

are you playing arcade version or 360 version?

[drunkninja24]

If you happen to have a Gameshark, you can enable proper Tate in the US version of Raiden Project. Already done so on mine and saved the setting permanently to my memory card so I don't need the Gameshark every time I play. Just don't change the setting back

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I have to resort to using a Gameshark hooked up to the I/O port on the back of my SCPH-1001 console when booting up the SCEA port of Raiden Project. It's no biggie though and becomes second nature. Of course, playing the real Raiden II PCB is where the action is at, indeed.

After finally trying out the Taito Type X versions of Raiden III & Raiden IV properly on a candy cab setup, they're quite something else compared to the PS2 Raiden III & 360 Raiden IV ports respectively. Plently of eye candy to behold/marvel at. The console dual play setup is one thing that gets a leg up on the arcade version, of course -- is regarded as "extra frosting on the cake" for the Raiden fans nevetheless. It's always good if a shmup dev includes extra bonus content that triumphs over the original arcade release to give shmuppers added value for their hard-earned $$$ with console shmup ports.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[finisherr]

are you playing arcade version or 360 version?

Arcade Version

[burgerkingdiamond]

is the arcade version of Raiden IV really much different than the 360 port?

[finisherr]

I personally don't know. I usually just try to play the version that is closest to the arcade version when playing ports.

[Casper<3]

is the arcade version of Raiden IV really much different than the 360 port?

Not sure if I'm answering the right question so forgive me if I'm not.

...but the arcade version (on the port) I believe is the same as the arcade version while the 360 version features two bonus stages. Making the game 7/14 stages vs 5/10.

[burgerkingdiamond]

yeah I know that the 360 version has a couple more stages. I was refering to PCE fan's statement about the type-x versions being "something else" compared to the ps2/360 counterparts. I always imagined that due to the similiarity in hardware that the 360 arcade version would be very close to a "perfect" port.

[finisherr]

Has anyone noticed that the bullets sort of follow you in this game? That becomes super annoying/difficult when those sniper guys on the side slam you at point blank range. You try to escape, but na, the bullets follow you.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Has anyone noticed that the bullets sort of follow you in this game? That becomes super annoying/difficult when those sniper guys on the side slam you at point blank range. You try to escape, but na, the bullets follow you.

that's every Raiden game ever.